Election Countdown 2012: A Quarter of New Jersey and a Tenth of New York Remain In the Dark After Sandy, and More

This week in the Election Countdown: A quarter of New Jersey and a tenth of New York remain in the dark after Sandy; overwhelmed elections officials locked the doors to their Doral headquarters and temporarily shut down the operation in Florida, angering nearly 200 voters standing in line outside; The Des Moines Register’s final poll of the year by Selzer & Co shows Obama ahead by 47 percent to 42 percent among likely Iowa voters; and More.

NY. Heat: “‘These are public housing projects where sand and water got into the boilers and electrical systems got destroyed. We don’t have a lot of empty housing in this city so it’s really a problem to find housing,’ Mr Bloomberg said.” I know! Privatize them! … Staten Island: “But when we finally made it to Crescent Beach, the scale of the damage was total.” … Power: “[14] much-needed generators sat idle all day yesterday in a rental company’s New Jersey parking lot after they were moved from the Staten Island staging area of the New York City Marathon — less than two miles from some of superstorm Sandy’s hardest-hit victims” (AH). … Food: “Thousands of New Yorkers affected by Sandy are still without access to food or water–but don’t worry guys, because you’re about to get some chips and soda! Governor Cuomo announced today that Walmart and PepsiCo will be donating snacks, beverages and supplies to New Yorkers in need. So much for Bloomberg’s attempt to banish every trans-fat and sugary drink from the city, they’re about to be brought in by the truckload.” … Solidarity: “‘When are we going to get some f****** help?’ one woman demanded of the billionaire mayor. ‘There’s old ladies in my building that don’t got nothing,’ one furious man told Bloomberg.”

NOTE: Swing states in bold italic, with (poll closing).

CO(9:00pm ET) The Obama: “Thousands of people huddled in the late-night cold Sunday awaiting Obama and acoustic sensation Dave Matthews. Most polls — including a Denver Post poll out Sunday — put Romney and Obama at a statistical tie.” … The Romney: “Romney, who spoke earlier in the day in Colorado Springs, positioned himself as a practical problem-solver, someone who would work with both parties to find solutions. ‘I won’t just represent one party,’ Romney said. ‘I’ll represent one nation.’” Among those who have already voted, Obama leads 49% to 46%, and he leads 45% to 42% among those who say they will vote before Tuesday. Only with Election Day voters — 18 percent of respondents — does Romney lead, 47% to 42%.” … Mass incarceration: “Three days ago, CO shut down a brand-new prison it didn’t need. Unless the state government finds someone else who can use it, CO taxpayers can expect to spend $208 million for an empty building. The legislature [had] resorted to a financing method called “certificates of participation.” Rather than borrow money to build its own prison, the state sold certificates to investors, becoming the operator of a prison owned by a multitude of lenders.”

FL (7:00pm ET for eastern part of state; 8pm ET for the west). … Voting: “Elections officials, overwhelmed with voters, locked the doors to their Doral headquarters and temporarily shut down the operation, angering nearly 200 voters standing in line outside — only to resume the proceedings an hour later. ‘This is America, not a third-world country,’ said Myrna Peralta, who waited in line with her 4-year-old grandson for nearly two hours before the doors closed. “They should have been prepared.’” … Voting: “But the law [that reduced the number of early voting days from 14 to eight and eliminated early voting on the Sunday before the election] includes a loophole: Election offices are allowed to be open for voters to drop off absentee ballots. On Sunday morning, officials in Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties announced that in addition to accepting absentee ballots, their main election offices would be open all day to print out absentee ballots for voters who had not already requested them.” … Voting: “Five things that could go wrong on Election Day in FL: Long ballots, provisional ballots, absentee ballots, challenges, confusion” (explainer).

IA (10:00pm ET) Polls: “The Des Moines Register’s final poll of the year by Selzer & Co shows Obama ahead by 47% to 42% among likely IA voters. Meanwhile, Project New America and USA Action released a new Iowa poll conducted by Grove Insight on November 1 and 2, which found Obama leading Romney 47% to 44%.”

OH. Ground war: “The Obama operation established itself here by 2008, winning Ohio and, to the shock of local leaders in the county that surrounds this city, Hamilton, which had long favored Republican presidential candidates. Then it never left.”

NH (7:00pm ET for most of state; 8pm ET for a few bigger cities) Polls: “Most recent polls give Obama a slight edge over Romney in NH, but within the margin of error.”

NV (10:00pm ET) Prediction: “It would be very difficult for Obama to lose Nevada, especially because I think more than two-thirds of the vote is in, so whatever turnout advantage the GOP has on Tuesday won’t be enough. Obama, 50%; Romney, 46%; others and ‘none of the above,’ 4 percent.”

PA. Power: “With so many residents still off the grid and overnight temperatures dipping into the 20s, Montgomery County officials declared a ‘code blue’ cold-weather warning, scheduled to continue through noon Monday. Lower Merion, one of the county’s hardest-hit townships, set up ‘warming stations’ at local firehouses and libraries to provide residents with a place to warm up, get a cup of coffee and other nourishment, recharge electronic equipment such as cellphones and laptops, and just have an opportunity to get outside and away from home for a bit” (PT). … The Rpmney: “Romney drew a crowd of 30,000 at a rally Sunday evening, as supporters from both sides of the Delaware River converged on a suburban Philadelphia farm. People waited for hours to get into the rally in a stiff wind and temperatures falling through the 40s, sending a message of support in this red corner of the state.” Impressive, but what the heck is Romney doing there? “Little early voting”?

VA (7:00pm ET). Voting: “Friday a coalition of voter advocates lodged a formal complaint about the guidance [True the Vote] has offered [through its manual for poll watchers]. One they pinpoint is a section on when polls close advising that people who vote after polls close should cast a provisional ballot that’s kept separate from other votes. The manual also notes that VA law allows anyone in line by the time polls close to vote. That’s a conflicting message that could cause problems at the polls, according to some who signed the letter. Another complaint is that the wording in the manual on voter identification laws is imprecise, given changes VA made to its law this year.”

WI (9:00pm ET) Voting: “The hundreds of thousands of people who vote by absentee ballots in Wisconsin might not realize mail-in ballots are probably the least reliable way to ensure a vote is counted, said Barry Burden, a UW-Madison political science professor.” … Voting: “Wisconsin is a ‘same-day registration state,’ meaning it’s easy to vote at the last minute so the Democrats hope the Boss will help them rouse people to the ballot boxes. ‘The general belief is that voters who move around a lot or students are going to lean Democratic and they’re going to register on Election Day,” said Burden” (Burden’s in everyone’s Rolodex!)

The Obama. Incentives: “TV executives believe the First Lady would be a natural to become a talk show host. She has even been compared to Oprah Winfrey.” … Nooners: “Whatever happens, Obama will not own the room again as once he did. If he wins, we will see a different presidency–even more stasis, and political struggle–but not a different president. ”

* Slogan of the day: In Following the Middle of The Road, Strive for an Even Greater Victory!

This piece was reprinted by Truthout with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.

Election Countdown 2012: A Quarter of New Jersey and a Tenth of New York Remain In the Dark After Sandy, and More

This week in the Election Countdown: A quarter of New Jersey and a tenth of New York remain in the dark after Sandy; overwhelmed elections officials locked the doors to their Doral headquarters and temporarily shut down the operation in Florida, angering nearly 200 voters standing in line outside; The Des Moines Register’s final poll of the year by Selzer & Co shows Obama ahead by 47 percent to 42 percent among likely Iowa voters; and More.

NY. Heat: “‘These are public housing projects where sand and water got into the boilers and electrical systems got destroyed. We don’t have a lot of empty housing in this city so it’s really a problem to find housing,’ Mr Bloomberg said.” I know! Privatize them! … Staten Island: “But when we finally made it to Crescent Beach, the scale of the damage was total.” … Power: “[14] much-needed generators sat idle all day yesterday in a rental company’s New Jersey parking lot after they were moved from the Staten Island staging area of the New York City Marathon — less than two miles from some of superstorm Sandy’s hardest-hit victims” (AH). … Food: “Thousands of New Yorkers affected by Sandy are still without access to food or water–but don’t worry guys, because you’re about to get some chips and soda! Governor Cuomo announced today that Walmart and PepsiCo will be donating snacks, beverages and supplies to New Yorkers in need. So much for Bloomberg’s attempt to banish every trans-fat and sugary drink from the city, they’re about to be brought in by the truckload.” … Solidarity: “‘When are we going to get some f****** help?’ one woman demanded of the billionaire mayor. ‘There’s old ladies in my building that don’t got nothing,’ one furious man told Bloomberg.”

NOTE: Swing states in bold italic, with (poll closing).

CO(9:00pm ET) The Obama: “Thousands of people huddled in the late-night cold Sunday awaiting Obama and acoustic sensation Dave Matthews. Most polls — including a Denver Post poll out Sunday — put Romney and Obama at a statistical tie.” … The Romney: “Romney, who spoke earlier in the day in Colorado Springs, positioned himself as a practical problem-solver, someone who would work with both parties to find solutions. ‘I won’t just represent one party,’ Romney said. ‘I’ll represent one nation.’” Among those who have already voted, Obama leads 49% to 46%, and he leads 45% to 42% among those who say they will vote before Tuesday. Only with Election Day voters — 18 percent of respondents — does Romney lead, 47% to 42%.” … Mass incarceration: “Three days ago, CO shut down a brand-new prison it didn’t need. Unless the state government finds someone else who can use it, CO taxpayers can expect to spend $208 million for an empty building. The legislature [had] resorted to a financing method called “certificates of participation.” Rather than borrow money to build its own prison, the state sold certificates to investors, becoming the operator of a prison owned by a multitude of lenders.”

FL (7:00pm ET for eastern part of state; 8pm ET for the west). … Voting: “Elections officials, overwhelmed with voters, locked the doors to their Doral headquarters and temporarily shut down the operation, angering nearly 200 voters standing in line outside — only to resume the proceedings an hour later. ‘This is America, not a third-world country,’ said Myrna Peralta, who waited in line with her 4-year-old grandson for nearly two hours before the doors closed. “They should have been prepared.’” … Voting: “But the law [that reduced the number of early voting days from 14 to eight and eliminated early voting on the Sunday before the election] includes a loophole: Election offices are allowed to be open for voters to drop off absentee ballots. On Sunday morning, officials in Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties announced that in addition to accepting absentee ballots, their main election offices would be open all day to print out absentee ballots for voters who had not already requested them.” … Voting: “Five things that could go wrong on Election Day in FL: Long ballots, provisional ballots, absentee ballots, challenges, confusion” (explainer).

IA (10:00pm ET) Polls: “The Des Moines Register’s final poll of the year by Selzer & Co shows Obama ahead by 47% to 42% among likely IA voters. Meanwhile, Project New America and USA Action released a new Iowa poll conducted by Grove Insight on November 1 and 2, which found Obama leading Romney 47% to 44%.”

OH. Ground war: “The Obama operation established itself here by 2008, winning Ohio and, to the shock of local leaders in the county that surrounds this city, Hamilton, which had long favored Republican presidential candidates. Then it never left.”

NH (7:00pm ET for most of state; 8pm ET for a few bigger cities) Polls: “Most recent polls give Obama a slight edge over Romney in NH, but within the margin of error.”

NV (10:00pm ET) Prediction: “It would be very difficult for Obama to lose Nevada, especially because I think more than two-thirds of the vote is in, so whatever turnout advantage the GOP has on Tuesday won’t be enough. Obama, 50%; Romney, 46%; others and ‘none of the above,’ 4 percent.”

PA. Power: “With so many residents still off the grid and overnight temperatures dipping into the 20s, Montgomery County officials declared a ‘code blue’ cold-weather warning, scheduled to continue through noon Monday. Lower Merion, one of the county’s hardest-hit townships, set up ‘warming stations’ at local firehouses and libraries to provide residents with a place to warm up, get a cup of coffee and other nourishment, recharge electronic equipment such as cellphones and laptops, and just have an opportunity to get outside and away from home for a bit” (PT). … The Rpmney: “Romney drew a crowd of 30,000 at a rally Sunday evening, as supporters from both sides of the Delaware River converged on a suburban Philadelphia farm. People waited for hours to get into the rally in a stiff wind and temperatures falling through the 40s, sending a message of support in this red corner of the state.” Impressive, but what the heck is Romney doing there? “Little early voting”?

VA (7:00pm ET). Voting: “Friday a coalition of voter advocates lodged a formal complaint about the guidance [True the Vote] has offered [through its manual for poll watchers]. One they pinpoint is a section on when polls close advising that people who vote after polls close should cast a provisional ballot that’s kept separate from other votes. The manual also notes that VA law allows anyone in line by the time polls close to vote. That’s a conflicting message that could cause problems at the polls, according to some who signed the letter. Another complaint is that the wording in the manual on voter identification laws is imprecise, given changes VA made to its law this year.”

WI (9:00pm ET) Voting: “The hundreds of thousands of people who vote by absentee ballots in Wisconsin might not realize mail-in ballots are probably the least reliable way to ensure a vote is counted, said Barry Burden, a UW-Madison political science professor.” … Voting: “Wisconsin is a ‘same-day registration state,’ meaning it’s easy to vote at the last minute so the Democrats hope the Boss will help them rouse people to the ballot boxes. ‘The general belief is that voters who move around a lot or students are going to lean Democratic and they’re going to register on Election Day,” said Burden” (Burden’s in everyone’s Rolodex!)

The Obama. Incentives: “TV executives believe the First Lady would be a natural to become a talk show host. She has even been compared to Oprah Winfrey.” … Nooners: “Whatever happens, Obama will not own the room again as once he did. If he wins, we will see a different presidency–even more stasis, and political struggle–but not a different president. ”

* Slogan of the day: In Following the Middle of The Road, Strive for an Even Greater Victory!

This piece was reprinted by Truthout with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.